Greater Manchester's lost restaurant in a plane that had a 'cockpit' cocktail lounge

A lost Greater Manchester "gimmick" saw a former RAF plane transformed into a restaurant with a 'cockpit' cocktail lounge.

Back in the 1970s, customers would venture to Pomona Docks to board a 21-year-old plane - known as the Comet - to enjoy a delicious meal or have a drink in its 'cockpit' cocktail lounge. The brainchild of Liverpool businessmen George 'Jud' Evans and Colin Peers of Compass Catering, the Comet was built by De Havilland Aircraft Company Limited at Hatfield and is said to have first flew in 1953.

After being struck off charge 1974, that same year the former RAF plane was acquired by the Compass Catering and flown to Manchester by a crew of six from the Wyton air base in Cambridgeshire. The plane cost £10,000 and had its wings, tail and fin removed to take a 12-mile road journey to Salford.

Read More:

25 sayings that make perfect sense to anyone who grew up in Manchester

But this was not the first business venture for the George and Colin, who already had two unusual nightclubs under their belt. Bobbing gently on the still waters of Salford’s Pomona Docks, the North Westward Ho! started its life as a floating nightclub in the early 1970s.

Years prior, the pair also opened a floating nightclub in Liverpool called the Clubship Landfall, which was moored in Salthouse Dock. Due to the popularity of Salford’s North Westward Ho, the same year the owners purchased the Dehavilland Comet and the RAF aircraft was parked besides the ship, offering something new to their existing customers.

Sven Evans, the eldest of George Evan's children, grew up in Halewood, Merseyside and said he remembers the Comet as a young boy. Sven, 60, told the MEN: "They wanted to expand and make it a whole attraction.

"They had